Among the notable persons who died that year was
Muhammad ibn Ismaʿil ibn Muhammad, Abū ʿAlī al-Tarasusi (1). He was also called “al-ʿIraqi” on account of his refinement and the length of his residence there. He heard hadith from Abū Tahir al-Mukhlis, studied jurisprudence with Abū Muhammad al-Baqi and then with Shaykh Abū Hamid al-Isfarayini, and he served as judge of the town of Tarsus. He was one of the distinguished and virtuous jurists; may Allah Most High have mercy on him.

Then the year 460 AH began.

Ibn al-Jawzi (2) relates: In Jumada al-Ula a severe earthquake struck the land of Palestine; it destroyed the town of Ramla, toppled two parapets of the Messenger of Allah’s Mosque ﷺ, reached Wadi al-Safra and Khaybar, split the earth to reveal many hoards of money, and its tremor was felt as far as al-Rahba and Kufa.

A letter from one of the merchants describing this earthquake arrived; it said: “It engulfed Ramla completely so that only two houses remained, and fifteen thousand souls perished. The Rock in Bayt al-Maqdis split apart and then, by Allah’s power, closed up again. The sea receded the distance of a day’s march and poured over the land, laying waste to the world [and in the place where the water had been there appeared various jewels and other objects]. People entered its exposed bed to gather them, whereupon the sea returned and drowned a great many of them [or most of them].” That is the merchant’s exact wording (3).

On Saturday, the fifteenth of Jumada al-Akhira, the Qadiri Creed—which sets forth the doctrines of Ahl al-Sunnah wa al-Jamaʿah and censures the innovators—was publicly read. Abū Muslim al-Laythi al-Bukhari, the hadith scholar, then read Ibn Khuzaymah’s Kitab al-Tawhid to those present, in the presence of the vizier Ibn Jahir and a group of leading jurists and theologians, and they all declared their agreement. The Qadiri Creed was afterwards read to the Sharif Abū Jaʿfar ibn al-Muqtadi bi-Allah at Bab al-Basra, he having received it directly from its author, the caliph al-Qadir bi-Allah.

That year the caliph dismissed his vizier, Abū Nasr Muhammad ibn Muhammad ibn Jahir, titled Fakhr al-Dawla, and sent him a message reproaching him for many matters. He offered excuses and adopted a tone of meek entreaty; the reply came that he might depart to whatever region he wished. He chose the Hilla of Ibn Maziyad. His companions sold their possessions and properties and divorced their wives; he gathered up his children and household and came to board a samiriyyah (4) in order to sail down to al-Hilla, while the people around him were weeping at his own weeping. When he passed by the Dar al-Khilafah he kissed—